Back to the Future: Argentina Unravels,A comprehensive look how the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, through corruption, transnational organized crime, warming ties to Iran, failed economic policies and cronyism, are moving Argentina to pariah status.February 28, 2013

Iran in the Western Hemisphere,Douglas Farah Testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittees on the Western Hemisphere; The Middle East; and Terrorism, Nonproliferation and TradeOctober 27, 2009

One of the finding, not related to the content of the poll, is that the Muslim population is about 2.35 million. This should help push back with the numbers that CAIR and other groups have been using to justify their demands for special treatment.

CAIR and others in its orbit throw around numbers double or triple the Pew findings, with no accounting of the methodology of how their figures are arrived at, and it is good to have a solid response to that part of their ongoing campaign.

The good news, as noted by the Washington Post and others, is that the Muslim community, unlike those of much of Europe, are assimilated and generally feel positively toward the the United States.

To me, a more alarming number is the 47 percent of those surveyed who viewed themselves as Muslims first, then Americans or other nationalities. This is far from the 81 percent who feel the same way in Britain and the 69 percent who feel that way in Spain. But still, it is almost half of the population.

I am not disturbed that they may not like American policies and would work within the system to change it. I am not disturbed that they are not deeply nationalistic, particularly given that 65 percent were not born in this country.

What does disturb me is that almost half of those surveyed view their first allegiance to a creed that calls clearly for the implementation of _sharia_ law and the dissolution of the secular state, making the government in essence a theocracy.

We have seen what fun that is, from Afghanistan under the Taliban to Iran today, and seems to me to be fundamentally at odds with the concept of a secular state in which all religions are treated equally and with respect.

Perhaps if one were to ask born-again Christians or other fundamentalist groups if they were Christians or whatever the religious belief is, first or Americans, they would answer the same way, I don't know.

It is also alarming to me that the younger generation, rather than becoming more integrated into their surrounding society, are measurably less tolerant and more radicalized than the older generations. This seems to me intuitively to be a function of what the younger generation is hearing in the mosques and through their religious training.

Clearly it is not what they get at home, where the older people tend to be more integrated and less radicalized. Outside of the home and the mosque, it is hard to imagine where this new generation is getting its orientation.

So the question is, who owns most of the mosques, and has taken them over in the past decade or so, and radically changed the teachings and worship patterns across America? Perhaps...NAIT, ISNA, CAIR and the Saudi religious materials that now dominate?

A small group took over the mosque, changed the teachings to radical _wahhabist_ doctrines embraced by the Taliban, and is now holding a part of the city essentially hostage.

We are fortunate that our system has worked better than most to absorb different groups. But the groups have to want to assimilate, as well. So far, things have gone better than most other places. But the voices for Islamist separatism are gaining some ground, and that should concern us all.